At homecoming
Published 12:00 am Tuesday, October 11, 2011
A good time was had by all as North Delta celebrated homecoming with a 49-0 blowout victory over Lee, (Ark.) Friday night.
The No. 5 ranked Green Wave improved to 7-1 on the season while extending their winning streak to five games. Lee meanwhile fell to 2-5 on the year.
Hunter Durham and Taylor Morris ran for two touchdowns each while quarterback Tyler Pirtle threw for two scores as North Delta generated 401 yards total offense with 301 of that via the ground game. It also marked the fourth game in a row that the Green Wave have rushed for over 300 yards.
North Delta’s defense was just as dominant as they held the Cougars to 48 yards of offense including minus 24 yards rushing in the second half.
“With all the homecoming stuff that was going on this week and coming off a huge win over Marshall last week, I felt we came out a little sluggish on offense the first series or two but then we picked it up late in the first quarter and continued it throughout the game,” said North Delta head coach Dan Werner.
After both teams exchanged punts after their opening possessions, before Pirtle got the Green Wave offense rolling with a 52-yard scoring run. William Dean added the point after for a 7-0 lead.
North Delta struck again on their next series on a four-yard touchdown run by Morris with 2:44 left in the opening quarter with Dean yet again adding the PAT to make the score 14-0.
The Green Wave tacked on three more touchdowns in the second quarter to build up a commanding 35-0 halftime lead.
First, Tyler Pirtle connected with Colby Pirtle on a 48-yard scoring strike to complete a five- play, 88-yard drive. Tyler Beard hit Parker Jones for the successful two-point conversion for a 22-0 Wave lead.
Later in the quarter, Morris’ 51-yard run set up a one-yard touchdown run by Durham that extended the lead to 28-0 after the point after attempt failed. Pirtle then hit a wide-open Will Magee on a 25-yard touchdown pass with 18 seconds left in the half. Sam Copeland tacked on the PAT.
Morris, who rushed for 161 yards on 16 carries, added an eight-yard touchdown run at the 1:35 mark of the third quarter as Copeland booted the successful point after for a 42-0 North Delta lead.
Durham finished scoring on a two-yard run with 1:05 remaining in the contest followed by Copeland’s point after.
Durham followed Morris in the rushing column with 57 yards on 12 carries. Tyler Pirtle added two carries for 42 yards to go along with five-of-nine passing for 100 yards.
Jones chipped in with four carries for 32 yards while Sy Pritchard contributed with three carries for nine yards. Pritchard also led the North Delta defense with seven tackles.
Colby Pirtle and Magee had two receptions while Dean accounted for one catch for 10 yards. Magee also recovered a fumble on defense.
Senior Bradi Beard was named homecoming queen at halftime.
North Delta will close out its 2011 regular season home slate Friday night by hosting Carroll Academy in a District 1-AA contest.